Dvd to Mac need conversion?

Question

I am trying to take dvd/slideshows my cousin and I made and put them on the mac. They do not need to be in itunes format. Nothing I have tried is working. iDvd, iMovie and Handbrake all require me to click on individual files or folders on the dvds themselves and not transfer the video as a whole. They each run about 4 minutes long. Does anyone know how to do this?
My goal is to take (2) 4 minute videos and transfer them to the Mac, then take them both and burn them to the same dvd in one step. I need to make 10 copies + of both for family and I thought it would be easier than trying to burn from one dvd player brought in from elsewhere to the dvd burner since I'd have to keep switching the disks out.
Thank you.

Answer 1

If you want to take footage from a DVD to put into iMovie and then into iDVD and burn a new DVD disk, you MUST use some third party software to do so. You can purchase:
Handbrake http://handbrake.fr/
Ripit http://ripitapp.com/
DVDxDV http://www.dvdxdv.com/NewFolderLookSite/Products/DVDxDV.products.htm
Or you can use the free MPEG-Streamclip http://www.squared5.com/
Here are the steps AppleMan recommends for using Streamclip with iMovie 8:
+I have found I get the best results when I use MPEG Streamclip (which is free). You also have to install the Apple QuickTime MPEG2 Playback Component which costs about $20. Once you install the QuickTime MPEG2 Playback Component, you don't have to interact with it, but MPEG Streamclip needs it.+
+Insert your DVD in your drive. If DVD player runs automatically, shut it down. You should see your DVD as an icon on the desktop. Open it is a finder winder. You should see a folder which has VOB files.+
+Open MPEG Streamclip and drag these VOB files into Streamclip. If it offers to fix timecode breaks, say yes. You can do the VOB files one by one if you want to deal with shorter clips. Or, you can drag all the VOB files at once and create one long clip, or use streamclip to separate them into smaller clips.+
+In Streamclip, select File/Export using Quicktime and choose Apple Intermediate Codec. You may want to check "Deinterlace" in this step. Try deinterlacing and see if you like it. It depends on your final target media as to whether this will help.+
+Now you should have MOV files in Apple Intermediate Codec which can be imported into iMovie+
The process of decompressing the compressed video from the DVD disk, editing it in iMovie and then recompressing it to burn via iDVD will cause some loss of quality.
Please post back if you have further questions.